Printing devices are often connected to local area networks (LANs) so that they can be shared by several different users. Such an arrangement normally works well, especially where there are only a few users that rely upon the printing device and/or users typically do not send a large number of print jobs to the printing device at a given time. Such shared device arrangements can be problematic, however, where a large volume of print jobs are sent to the printing device, as is likely when many different users all rely upon the same printing device.
In the latter situation, users often arrive at a given printing device after sending a print job to it only to find that other print jobs are currently printing. Where one or more of these other print jobs is very large, e.g., a user manual for an electronic device, the user may realize with frustration that his or her print job will not likely print for a relatively long period of time. Such a scenario can be particularly irksome, or even damaging, to the user where the user must obtain a hardcopy of the document as soon as possible (e.g., before an important meeting).
Although there are existing solutions to the aforementioned problem, none is particularly appealing. One such solution is to search for an alternative printing device that is not currently occupied with printing other print jobs. This solution, however, requires that there is in fact another printing device available on the network and available to the user (i.e., the user has an appropriate driver in place for that printing device). If there is such a printing device available, the user may then waste valuable time in physically travelling to the different locations at which the printing devices are located and determining their availability.
In another solution, the user can request that a network administrator, or other person with the required authority, to adjust the print queue for the printing device to elevate the user's print job up in the order of the queue. Although such action could reduce the waiting time for the user, it normally is ineffective where the current job is very large in that the current job normally cannot be placed on hold by the administrator or other person. Even if this is not the case, the user must locate the administrator or other person before queue adjustment can be achieved.
In yet another solution, the user can merely cancel the current print job, or any other print job before the user's in the queue, by selecting a “cancel” button on the printing device. Although this solution is normally quick and effective, it typically results in other persons' jobs not being completed in that such an action actually cancels the job(s) instead of merely delaying printing of the job(s).
In view of the above, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to be able to adjust the order of a print queue to obtain certain print jobs more quickly that avoids one or more of the drawbacks identified above.